'NCIS' and 'Big Bang Theory' reach ratings milestone

Jan. 16, 2013

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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From left, Cote de Pablo, Rocky Carroll and Mark Harmon appear in a scene from last week's episode of "NCIS," which attracted 21.11 million viewers to give CBS two scripted series with more than 20 million viewers. MONTY BRINTON, CBS

From left, Cote de Pablo, Rocky Carroll and Mark Harmon appear in a scene from last week's episode of "NCIS," which attracted 21.11 million viewers to give CBS two scripted series with more than 20 million viewers.MONTY BRINTON, CBS

CBS became the first network since 2007 to have two scripted series average at least 20 million viewers in the same week last week, helping it to the largest viewership for any network this season.

With "NCIS" averaging a season-high 21.11 million viewers and "The Big Bang Theory" 20 million, setting a series high for the second consecutive week, CBS averaged 13.29 million viewers for its prime-time programming between Jan. 7 and Sunday, according to live-plus-same-day figures released Tuesday by Nielsen.

CBS' "NCIS: Los Angeles," "CSI: NY," "The Good Wife" and "Undercover Boss" all drew their largest audiences of the 16-week-old season, while CBS had each of the five most-watched scripted programs.

The last time a network had two scripted series average at least 20 million viewers in the same week was the week of Nov. 5, 2007 when CBS' "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" averaged 21.9 million viewers and "Without a Trace" 21.6 million.

This was the first time since the week of May 16, 2005 when a network had both a comedy and drama average at least 20 million viewers in the same week, when CBS had two comedies ("Everybody Loves Raymond" and "Two and a Half Men") and three dramas ("CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "CSI: Miami" and "Without a Trace") reach that level.

CBS also got boosts from football. The 53-minute run-over into prime time of Saturday's NFL playoff game between the Baltimore Ravens and Denver Broncos averaged 42.51 million viewers and Sunday's 59-minute run-over of the Houston Texans-New England Patriots game averaged 37.85 million viewers.

Neither the game run-overs nor the postgame shows are considered separate shows, but are counted in the weekly average.

Fox, whose coverage of Saturday's NFL playoff game between the Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers averaged 30.89 million viewers, the most for any prime-time program this season, was second, averaging 7.67 million viewers.

NBC, whose NFL coverage gave it victories each of the past three weeks when CBS had relatively little original programming, was third, averaged 6.84 million viewers for its first week this season without an NFL game.

ABC was fourth, averaging 6.36 million.

CBS finished first among viewers ages 18-49, the group ABC, Fox and NBC target and advertisers covet because it watches less television and is harder to reach. Its 3.3 rating among the group tied the weekly season high for any network this season.

The Packers-49ers game was the week's most-watched program among the group. An NFL game has finished first among the group all 16 weeks this season.

CBS also had the highest weekly average this season among viewers ages 25-54 and also led among viewers 50 and older, a group it has long dominated.

Three special events airing last week drew their largest audiences in several years.

NBC's coverage of Sunday's Golden Globe Awards finished fifth for the week, averaging 19.69 million viewers, its most and the most for any awards show outside of the Academy Awards and Grammy Awards since 2007.

The People's Choice Awards on CBS was 19th for the week, averaging 9.72 million, its most since 2010. ABC's coverage of Saturday's Miss America Pageant was 29th for the week, averaging 7.08 million viewers, its most since 2004.

The premiere of the NBC drama "Deception" averaged 5.66 million viewers, finishing 49th for the week and third in its 10-11 p.m. time slot Jan. 7, with its competition including ESPN's telecast of the Bowl Championship Series National Champion Game in the Eastern and Central time zones.

"Deception" won the time slot among its broadcast competition among viewers ages 18-34 and 18-49.

Ratings for premieres are often unrepresentative of how the series will fare because of the heavy promotion they receive and viewers who tune in who are interested in the concept, but do not return for future episodes.

ESPN's coverage of the Bowl Championship Series National Champion Game Jan. 7 drew the second-largest audience in cable television history, 26.38 million viewers, finishing second for the week among all broadcast and cable programs.

The record is 27.32 million for the 2011 Bowl Championship Series National Champion Game, which also aired on ESPN.

With the game's nine- and 16-minute studio shows accounting for the second- and third-most-watched cable programs and sixth- and 11th most-watched overall, ESPN was the most-watched cable network for the ninth consecutive week, averaging 4.77 million viewers.

The Wednesday episode of the Univision telenovela "Amores Verdaderos" ("True Love") was the week's most-watched Spanish-language program, averaging 5.41 million viewers, 52nd among all prime-time broadcast and cable programs.

As usual, Univision was the most-watched Spanish-language network, averaging 3.82 million viewers for its prime-time programming.

Telemundo was second, averaging 1.38 million viewers, followed by TeleFutura, which averaged 630,000, Estrella TV, which averaged 230,000, Azteca America, which averaged 140,000 and MundoFox, which averaged 70,000.

The "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams" was the most-watched network nightly newscast for the 174th consecutive week and 221st time in the past 222 weeks, averaging 9.31 million viewers.

ABC's "World News with Diane Sawyer" was second, averaging 8.49 million, its most since the week of Feb. 7, 2011.

The "CBS Evening News" was third for the 329th consecutive week and 84th since Scott Pelley became anchor, averaging 7.14 million.

NIELSEN PRIME-TIME RATINGS

Prime-time television viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Jan. 7-13. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership for the week.

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